Posted on 11/12/2001 5:15:21 PM PST by t-shirt
Ritalin May Change Brain Long-Term, Study Shows
Sunday November 11 2001
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The stimulant Ritalin (news - web sites), a drug used to help children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, may cause long-term changes in the brain, researchers reported Sunday.
The changes look similar to those seen with other stimulants such as amphetamine and cocaine, at least in rats, the team at the University of Buffalo found.
``Clinicians consider Ritalin to be short-acting,'' Joan Baizer, a professor of physiology and biophysics who led the study said in a statement.
``When the active dose has worked its way through the system, they consider it 'all gone.' Our research with gene expression in an animal model suggests that it has the potential for causing long-lasting changes in brain cell structure and function.''
But Baizer said that Ritalin, known generically as methylphenidate, probably is not addictive in the way drugs of abuse are if it is used properly.
``Children have been given Ritalin daily for many years, and it is extremely effective and beneficial, but it's not quite as simple as a short-acting drug,'' she said. ``We need to look at it more closely.''
High doses of amphetamine and cocaine have been found to switch on genes known as ``immediate early genes'' in brain cells. One of the genes, called c-fos, has been linked with addiction when it is activated in certain parts of the brain.
The researchers gave rat pups sweetened milk carrying methylphenidate in comparable doses and at similar times to what a child would get.
C-fos genes were activated in their brains in a pattern similar to that seen in cocaine and amphetamine use, the researchers told a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego.
``These data do suggest that there are effects of Ritalin on cell function that outlast the short term and we should sort that out,'' Baizer said.
She said perhaps a gene chip -- a microarray -- could be used to see just which genes are turned on and off by methylphenidate.
Be sure to get this info out far and wide!
I'm sorry, I just can't help myself. Is there a full loon out tonight? Seems FR is full of it today!
Ritalin will always be around, it's the easy way out and convenient. Most ADHD is due to allergies, diet related, etc. Can be controlled but it takes TIME and WORK.
Try a little corporal punishment in the schools and you will see how fast their hyperactivity stops.
What happens when the child becomes an adult? Hyperactivity goes away like magic? That's because they never had it.
Ritalin = cocaine, when child becomes an adult Ritalin is stopped and cocaine addiction usually starts.
I can't believe spent several minutes posting you a long reply a little while ago to you tonight. You should be ashamed of your behavior.
"And the loon spun round like a top..."
And then what? Seriously? I will say Ritalin is over prescribed and ADD ADHD is Highly Misdiagnosed Not Over Diagnosed. A true ADD ADHD kid or ADHD adult will benefit from Ritalin. Many more though are not and Ritalin is of no value. There are many simuliar disorders that fit ADD ADHD behavioral patterns and in fact are not ADD ADHD.
Make the shrink the last stop. Make an Audiologist one of the first after the family GP. Sensory Processing Disorders probably account for the high percentage of ADD ADHD diagnoses increases we now see. The reason being is there are now far more triggering devices for these disorders than there was in the pre 1980's. A child or adult with medical histories of allergies or chronic ear infections are prime canidates for these type disorders. They are treatable in such that you treat the damaging cause to limit further problems.
I posted a an important and serious story about a scientific study done by a respected American University and annie comes on with personal attacks on me and others in violation of FR rules, which is shameful behavior just like yours. And then you come on like the clown you apparently are and talk about a bogeyman under your bed. Can you try to act like a man instead of like a child misbehaving in a chatroom?
Yes and there is a good reason but not what you think though. They do not keep you out due to the Ritalin. They keep you out because the Ritalin usage requirement says a condition that requires it's usage is still there. It didn't leave at puberty. Meaning probable sensory problems. I passed two military physicals while only having vision in one eye at a time. That is a sensory problem. At the same time I was diagnosed in early childhood in mid 1960's with ADHD. I did not have it and my reaction to Ritalin pointed to that fact.
These type problems can mean anything from no depth perception to inability to properly hear and understand orders. The Ritalin usage is a flag for a underlying Neurological condition and nothing more. That is the big secret the military understands about Ritalin usage.
Are you sure about that? I know of a young man who took Ritalin in High School (and that is in his public school records because I remember his mom worrying about that) and not sure if he is still taking Ritalin, but he was accepted in the army, doing well and just finishing boot camp.
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